


It's just a prank, bro

by KindDog



Series: Hot (Dog) Date Universe [2]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Group Hugs, Pranks and Practical Jokes, i don't know how to write fluff sorry, overuse of ghostly teleportation powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:48:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27785503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KindDog/pseuds/KindDog
Summary: Julie gets back at the phantoms for ditching her all the time, but she accidentally takes it a little bit too far.aka--Julie tries to prank the boys, but they end up crying instead, leading to lots of hugging.This is sort of a prequel to Hot (Dog) Date but I don't think you really need to read it to understand what's going on (but it might be good for context).
Relationships: Alex & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie, Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Flynn & Julie Molina
Series: Hot (Dog) Date Universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2032753
Comments: 6
Kudos: 118





	It's just a prank, bro

**Author's Note:**

> Someone commented asking for me to write out the scene where Julie pranks the boys in my last fic, and I thought it was a good idea, so here it is. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Julie sat on the edge of her bed and sighed, picking at her ripped jeans while looking around her room for something to do. It was her idea for the band to only practice a few nights a week because she didn’t want to fall behind on schoolwork, but she was now regretting it. She fell back against her bright comforter and pulled three locks of frizzy hair in front of her face, which she began to put in a tight braid coming down from her forehead. It wasn’t so bad when just Willie and Alex we’re gone on nights without band practice, but now that Luke and Reggie had started ditching her too, it really sucked. She had gotten used to having people to hang out with every night, watching movies together, building forts in the living room, or just talking. She missed having them around all the time. Sure, they could be pretty annoying at times, but at this point, she liked them enough that everything that used to bug her was just endearing (though she would never tell them that).

There was a knock at her door and she startled and sat up, calling out permission for them to enter. She knew it was her dad. Everyone else would have just barged in without knocking and waiting for permission. Except Alex, she supposed. He would have knocked and _then_ barged in without waiting for permission. He was polite like that.

Her dad pushed her door open and stuck his head through the frame, smiling at where his bored daughter sat on her bed.

“Hey kiddo, Carlos and I are heading out. He has a soccer game out of town tonight, so we’ll probably be home a bit later than usual. There are leftovers in the fridge for dinner if you want anything,” said Ray as Carlos’s small head poked around the doorframe below him, smiling brightly at Julie before tugging at his dad’s sleeve.

“Come on, Dad. We’re gonna be late.”

Ray turned away from Julie, ruffling the boy’s curly hair.

“Okay, okay, Cristiano Ronaldo. Let’s go,” he said, waving goodbye to Julie before walking away.

Julie laid down again, listening to the sound of her dad’s car leaving the driveway, the quiet hum of its engine drifting away as they left. She unbraided the little plait she had sticking out from her head, combing out the kinks it had made with her fingers. She felt boredom settle into her bones, accompanied by a tinge of loneliness.

She rolled over dramatically towards her nightstand and grabbed her phone, holding it above her head. Before the band, she could easily entertain herself with the help of a few youtube videos or some music, but now whenever she put on her headphones to watch or listen to something, she was just reminded of the way the phantoms would bug her to let them hear too, shoving each other aside as they tried to see what she was doing over her shoulders.

Admitting that her want of companionship in that moment could be easily fixed, she called Flynn.

“Hey, you,” said Flynn in a sing-song voice over the phone, “I knew you would call.”

“Hey,” said Julie, imagining her best friend rolling her eyes in her mind as she asked, “Are you _sure_ you can’t come over today?”

Flynn huffed, “No, Julie. I told you earlier. I have to watch my little cousin tonight.”

Julie smiled and thought of the time she had met the little girl. She had never seen such an energetic and destructive child. Just ten minutes after her arrival, Julie was covered in sparkly cat stickers and Flynn’s cat was covered in baby powder.

“But she’s an angel. Surely she can be left to her own devices,” said Julie playfully.

Flynn laughed, “Uh-huh, sure she can,” she said, the sound of a loud crash and following laughter in the background, “Look, I know you’re bored or whatever, but I’ll be there tomorrow,” she continued.

“But Flynn,” whined Julie with a pout on her face, “I need you now.”

She could practically hear Flynn roll her eyes as she said, “Julie, you can spend one night by yourself.”

Julie felt herself grow desperate, knowing Flynn was about to hang up to take care of whatever mayhem was happening on the other side of the phone call.

“It’s just that they’re so mean about it!” blurted Julie, “They always come back talking about all the cool stuff they did and how I ‘should have been there,’” she said, standing up to pace around her room.

“Just the other day,” Julie continued in a loud, higher than usual voice, “Luke and Reggie were at a petting zoo in Switzerland and apparently goats can see ghosts!”

She shoved her feet into her fuzzy slippers and stomped down stairs to heat up something to eat. As she pulled a half-eaten casserole out of the fridge and began to scoop some into a bowl, Flynn responded.

“Are you lonely or jealous?” said Flynn patiently.

Julie paused, her phone tucked between her ear and shoulder while a piece of broccoli fell off her fork as she thought.

“Both, I guess. I just wish they wouldn’t rub it in my face,” she said with a sigh, “I don’t like being left out of stuff.”

“Feels bad, huh?” asked Flynn casually, masking a slightly hurt tone of voice.

Julie felt a rush of shame flow through her, as she remembered how upset Flynn was when she was keeping the band a secret from her. At the time, she thought that Flynn wouldn’t believe her, but as she stood in her kitchen with a bowl of cheesy...something in front of her, she thought about how good of a friend Flynn had always been and knew it was dumb of her to keep secrets. They were double trouble after all.

“I’m still really sorry about that,” said Julie quietly, gently placing her fork down as she stuck her bowl in the microwave.

“No, no, don’t worry about it,” said Flynn quickly, trying to reassure her friend, “You made up for it--wrote me a song and everything. It’s okay. I was just saying, I guess. My point is that you need to be mature and talk to them about it. They probably don’t even realize that they’re making you feel bad.”

Julie raised her eyebrows and huffed at her friend’s advice. “I don’t think so. What kind of jerk would I be to be jealous of guys who got neat powers after _dying_ ,” she said as if it were very obvious that Flynn was being dumb instead of reasonable. “They’re just making the most of their afterlife. It’s only fair.”

“Julie, come on don’t--”

Julie interrupted, “No way. Screw maturity. I’m gonna get back at them the best way I know how,” she said with determination.

Flynn sighed at her friend, understanding where Julie was going with this and asked, “How is that better?”

“Are you in or not?” said Julie, ignoring the question and starting to feel much better as she thought up ideas of how to make them feel just as left out as she did.

She heard her friend groan on the other side of the line, “Fine. But I’m not coming over and you have to come help the next time I babysit.”

Julie beamed, biting her lip in excitement as she pulled her food out from the now beeping microwave.

“Deal. Okay, here’s the plan…”  
\-------  
Luke and Reggie teleported into the dark living room with a flash of light, still laughing and talking about their little adventure.

“I can’t believe you made me do that!” said Luke, tears forming in his eyes from laughter as he clutched his friend’s shoulder for balance.

Reggie shoved at him playfully and said, “I didn’t make you do anything. Almost giving the queen of England a heart attack was entirely your idea.”

Luke shook his head with a smile, walking up towards Julie’s room to tell her about what they had done. When he got to the door, he stuck his head through the wood, spotting her curled up on her bed, reading a book.

“Hey Julie! Guess what Reg and I did today?” he said excitedly, as Reggie came up behind him and stepped into the room.

He faltered when Julie didn’t react in any discernible way, continuing to page through her book with a bored expression on her face. He looked towards Reggie with confusion.

“Maybe she’s got some of those little earbuds that we just can’t see,” said Reggie, walking towards her and waving his hands in front of the page to grab her attention.

Luke frowned, “Julie?” he asked worriedly before looking towards the other boy, “Why can’t she see us?”

Reggie stared at her for a moment, dread building in his stomach.

“I mean, last time she was mad at us she ignored us,” he said, trying to be rational and not jump to conclusions.

Luke crossed his arms in front of his chest and started to walk around Julie’s bed, squinting at her to try and see if anything was different, but nothing was amiss. Julie was just Julie, as radiant as ever, looking very cute in her fuzzy slippers.

“Last time she ignored us, it wasn’t like this,” he said, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear and tugging at it in worry, “She only ignored us for a minute and you were the only one who thought that she couldn’t see us anymore.”

Luke felt himself begin to panic. He couldn’t lose Julie, not now, after all they’d been through. He walked up to her and tried to poke her, but his hand passed right through. He tried again, feeling increasingly desperate.

Reggie walked up behind him and pulled him away by his shoulder.

“The fact that you can’t touch her doesn’t mean anything,” he said, “We can only touch her occasionally and we still don’t know why.”

Reggie grabbed his friend’s hand and tugged at it. He knew that he had to be the strong one in that moment. Luke was clearly becoming upset.

“Come on, we need to find Alex,” said Reggie, “Where did he say he and Willie were going today?”

Luke thought for a moment, going through the conversation the two shared earlier that day, before remembering.

“He said they were going to the leaning tower of Pisa!” he said with a jolt, his eyes wide open before he squeezed them shut and immediately teleported them to the Italian destination.

They appeared on a patch of grass, tourists streaming around them and at least five people trying to get photos where it looked like they were holding up the tower. Reggie jerked away from Luke, shaking his arms out as he looked around at their new surroundings.

“Jesus, warn a guy next time,” he said, shooting a glare at his friend, who wasn’t paying him any attention as he looked around for Alex and Willie. He spotted them standing on the top of the tilted building, Alex wrapped around his boyfriend like a scared Koala, the latter hugging him back with a smile on his face, pointing to something in the distance.

Luke pointed at them in return and shouted, “Up there!” before teleporting to meet them.

He poofed into existence behind the two boys, making them both jump and scream in surprise as he nearly fell against them.

Alex looked at his friend with wild eyes, still maintaining his white knuckled grip on his boyfriend and shouted, “What are you doing here?”

Reggie teleported right next to the three of them, almost knocking them all off of the tower, his shoes scraping on the roof as he caught his balance with the help of Willie’s shoulder.

“Julie can’t see us anymore!” said Luke, his voice clearly panicked as it cracked with desperation. His heart was pounding in his chest, and he felt like they had to get back to her as quickly as possible.

Alex looked confused, still in a state of shock from the sudden intrusion by his bandmates, and Luke let out a strangled sound of frustration, grabbing Alex and Reggie’s hands before teleporting them all back to the Molina house.

The four ghosts all tumbled into Julie’s bedroom, crashing into each other on the floor.  
Reggie immediately stood up and backed away from the group.

“Stop doing that Luke!” he said shrilly, his body buzzing with the weird tingling sensation that came with teleporting.

Luke ignored him, walking straight up to Julie, who was sitting up in shock at the sudden intrusion and he waved a hand in her face.

Julie ignored the hand, seeming to look straight through it to where Willie was standing.

“Oh hey Willie,” she said with surprise, “What’re you doing here? Where’s Alex?”

The skater looked around at his ghost friends in confusion, before pointing to the drummer standing right next to him.

“He’s here,” he said, trying to figure out what Julie was talking about. When she just stared at him like he was crazy, he continued, “He’s right next to me, so are Luke and Reggie. Can’t you see them?”

Julie stood up from her bed, looking around the room in apparent confusion, trying as hard as she could not to focus her eyes on any of her three bandmates.

“No, I can’t see them,” she said, worry lacing her features as she reached down, pulling her phone out of her pocket and putting it up to her ear.

She began speaking to Flynn over the phone in a panicked voice, talking about her sudden inability to see the phantoms while she began to pace the room, walking straight through Alex, who jumped away, clutching his chest at the intrusion. She turned towards Willie, addressing him directly and asked, “Do you know what’s going on? You know all about ghost stuff, right?”

Willie looked around in defeat, wracking his brain for any information that might be helpful.

“Maybe it was Caleb,” he said fearfully while grabbing his boyfriend’s wrist to check for any stamps, “Maybe he did something to them. I don’t understand why you would stop seeing them but not me.”

At this, Luke sunk down to the floor, pulling his knees to his chest as tears formed in his eyes and Julie paused her pacing, a guilty look growing on her face. She stopped and looked at the ground, before quietly saying, “I can see you guys. It was just a prank.”

She winced and looked Luke in the eye, who was staring at her in shock, a look which was mirrored by everyone else in the room.

“What?” exclaimed Reggie, breaking the momentary silence.

Julie’s face went red as she covered it in embarrassment and shame.

“It was a prank,” she repeated, “I may have taken it too far.”

Luke looked at her, his eyes still filled with unshed tears, but relief evident on his face, “I don’t understand. Why would you do that?”

Julie groaned and loudly spoke, “I was jealous, okay?” she stopped for a moment and took a deep breath, “I was jealous that you guys got to do such cool stuff all the time without me”

Before anyone else could speak, she continued, “I’m really sorry. That was so mean of me. I know it’s stupid, but I just felt so left out, and I wanted to get back at you guys.”

Luke saw tears forming in her eyes, and he stood up gently testing to see if he could touch her. When his hand didn’t pass through her arm, he quickly wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly.

“I’m so glad you can see us. I was really scared,” he said into her dark hair.

She sniffled loudly and cried out, “I’m so sorry! That was so mean. I didn’t mean to make you guys upset.

Luke only squeezed her harder, while Alex and Reggie both joined to form a group hug. Willie stood back awkwardly, his usually confident demeanor overshadowed with uncertainty until Alex gestured for him to join in.

“We should have realized that leaving you behind all the time would make you upset,” said Alex, his voice sounding strange due to the way his face was smushed within the hug.

Reggie nodded in agreement, “Sorry Julie,” he said, sounding like a little kid apologizing for stealing his little sister’s Barbie doll.

She let out a small laugh and said, “No, I was being stupid.”

Luke finally spoke once more, saying “You weren’t being stupid. I get it,” he sniffled and continued, “How about from now on we save any field trips for when you’re at school, and we won’t be annoying about it.”

She shook her head, untangling herself from the messy group hug, “You don’t have to do that.”

Reggie quickly responded, “Nope, too late. We’re doing it. No making Julie sad. It’s a rule.”

“A rule?” asked Julie, a confused smile on her face looking out of place among her tear stained cheeks.

“An unspoken rule,” Alex interjected before Reggie could say anything, while Luke’s face turned red, remembering their secret formation of the Julie Molina Protection Squad. He looked at her red-rimmed eyes and couldn’t help but feel like they needed to step up their game. He should find a way to get Flynn to join.

Julie nodded in understanding, looking around at her friends, still feeling guilty about her prank but also just feeling glad that they were there.

“Um… is now a good time to say I told you so?” spoke a tinny sounding voice coming from Julie’s phone, where it lay abandoned on the bed.

Everyone in the room jumped, and Julie rolled her eyes with a laugh, “No,” she said, hanging up on her friend who had listened to the entire exchange.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it!  
> Kudos and comments are very much appreciated <3


End file.
